Alfred Mercier: Lidia: Roman. Translation, Introduction and Notes by E. Joe Johnson, Éditions Tintamarre, 2026.

This 1887 novel—available for the first time in English and with an introduction, annotations, and illustrations—was originally published serially for French-speaking readers in New Orleans. It relates the many obstacles to the romance of the twenty-something Parisian transplants, Lidia and Aurelien. With a colorful cast of characters ranging from aristocratic survivors of the 1789 revolution, veterans of the Napoleonic wars, working class people, and abusive clerical figures to famous physicians, artists, and composers of the era, Lidia captures an industrializing France on the verge of a monarchy-ending revolution and a new republic.

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The author of Lidia and other works, Alfred Mercier (1816-1894) was a practicing physician and prominent civic figure in postbellum New Orleans. His Saint-Ybars: Masters and Slaves in Louisiana, is also available in English translation from Les Éditions Tintamarre.

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E. Joe Johnson is professor of foreign languages at Clayton State University.

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ISBN : 979-8-9931889-4-2